Friday, January 31, 2003
Oriana Fallaci
Oriana Fallaci, journalist, correspondent, interviewer, and author, spends most of her time in Mahattan. Her book, The Rage and the Pride, has sold over 1 million copies in her native Italy and over half a million at the top of Europe's best seller lists. And yet, we've never heard much of it in North America. Ms. Fallaci's rage concerns the West's blindness to the threat that Islam respresents to our society.
"The clash between us and them is not a military clash. Oh, no. It is a cultural one, a religious one. And our military victories do not solve the offensive of Islamic terrorism. On the contrary, they encourage it. They exacerbate it, they multiply it. The worst is still to come.”
The Muslim world is a culture which has produced and produces only religion. There is no room for freedom or democracy as we know it. A warning from Ms. Fallacis ... "If we continue to stay inert, they will become always more and more. They will demand always more and more, they will vex and boss us always more and more. ’Til the point of subduing us. Therefore, dealing with them is impossible. Attempting a dialogue, unthinkable. Showing indulgence, suicidal. And he or she who believes the contrary is a fool.”
Oriana Fallaci, journalist, correspondent, interviewer, and author, spends most of her time in Mahattan. Her book, The Rage and the Pride, has sold over 1 million copies in her native Italy and over half a million at the top of Europe's best seller lists. And yet, we've never heard much of it in North America. Ms. Fallaci's rage concerns the West's blindness to the threat that Islam respresents to our society.
"The clash between us and them is not a military clash. Oh, no. It is a cultural one, a religious one. And our military victories do not solve the offensive of Islamic terrorism. On the contrary, they encourage it. They exacerbate it, they multiply it. The worst is still to come.”
The Muslim world is a culture which has produced and produces only religion. There is no room for freedom or democracy as we know it. A warning from Ms. Fallacis ... "If we continue to stay inert, they will become always more and more. They will demand always more and more, they will vex and boss us always more and more. ’Til the point of subduing us. Therefore, dealing with them is impossible. Attempting a dialogue, unthinkable. Showing indulgence, suicidal. And he or she who believes the contrary is a fool.”
Friday, January 24, 2003
I'd Like to Thank My Lord and Savior For this Blog
Well it's coming up on SuperBowl Sunday and it's a foregone conclusion that some athelete will thank god or jesus like they've someone interejected on his behalf to help his team win the game. This is by no means peculiar to football, it's available at the end of baseball and basketball games too. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it laughable that professional atheletes use an ESPN soapbox to highlight their faith. Do these guys honestly believe that a higher power had something to do with the winning touchdown, homerun, or basket? It's like the opposing team must have been composed of all heathens and god was on the other team's side. But that is indeed something rare, imagine if Joe Smith on the winning team thanked almighty satan, I wonder what would happen then? I wonder if the President would answer the phone call the next day? This Sunday, keep your eye on the prayer circle ... or was that the huddle? It's getting harder to tell the difference.
Well it's coming up on SuperBowl Sunday and it's a foregone conclusion that some athelete will thank god or jesus like they've someone interejected on his behalf to help his team win the game. This is by no means peculiar to football, it's available at the end of baseball and basketball games too. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it laughable that professional atheletes use an ESPN soapbox to highlight their faith. Do these guys honestly believe that a higher power had something to do with the winning touchdown, homerun, or basket? It's like the opposing team must have been composed of all heathens and god was on the other team's side. But that is indeed something rare, imagine if Joe Smith on the winning team thanked almighty satan, I wonder what would happen then? I wonder if the President would answer the phone call the next day? This Sunday, keep your eye on the prayer circle ... or was that the huddle? It's getting harder to tell the difference.
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Raelian's Revisited
Well, at least that's what their hoping anyway. Sayyyy, they're still getting all kinds of press though eh. In our local newspaper today the local Raelian muckety muck tells us all about how he came to believe in the "movement". In the story, the lapsed Catholic picked up Rael's book and felt the teachings it contained made more sense to him than the teachings of the church he knew. In perhaps a telling quote, "I've got peace. Now I can sleep, because I know where I came from, and I know what will happen when I die." Therein lies perhaps the reason to believe in any religion if it helps.
But again I supposed it's easy to think of these folks as "wacky" and I think most of us do. However, that would fly in the face of respecting people's religious beliefs though doesn't it? That is indeed a question I've personally struggled with. I mean would you of sound mind consider this Raelian movement even remotely plausible? Are we in fact descended from aliens who planted the seed of their DNA on our planet? Or are we in fact put here by some all-knowing invisible wizard in the sky? These stories are starting to converge for me eh.
Well, at least that's what their hoping anyway. Sayyyy, they're still getting all kinds of press though eh. In our local newspaper today the local Raelian muckety muck tells us all about how he came to believe in the "movement". In the story, the lapsed Catholic picked up Rael's book and felt the teachings it contained made more sense to him than the teachings of the church he knew. In perhaps a telling quote, "I've got peace. Now I can sleep, because I know where I came from, and I know what will happen when I die." Therein lies perhaps the reason to believe in any religion if it helps.
But again I supposed it's easy to think of these folks as "wacky" and I think most of us do. However, that would fly in the face of respecting people's religious beliefs though doesn't it? That is indeed a question I've personally struggled with. I mean would you of sound mind consider this Raelian movement even remotely plausible? Are we in fact descended from aliens who planted the seed of their DNA on our planet? Or are we in fact put here by some all-knowing invisible wizard in the sky? These stories are starting to converge for me eh.
Tuesday, January 07, 2003
The Big Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. Hard to believe it was that long ago. At first the telescope had an optical flaw and thought to be a 2 billion dollar white elephant. The optics were fully corrected in 1994 and since then the Hubble has provided some of the most stunning and well know images of our solar system and indeed, the universe. It has allowed us to see further back in time than any human has been capable of as all images of our universe are just that, history. The hubble has brought forth great scientific discoveries and estimated the age of our universe at 13.4 bilion years old. It's been able to see almost to the beginning of this time. Amazing when you stop to think that the light from such begining events began it's travel towards earth before earth existed and we're only seeing it now. How is such a thing possible even ...
So the Hubble is now well-known almost throughout the world, but what's next. That's a little less well advertised but work has begun on the Hubble successor. The Next Generation Telescope now known as the James Webb Space Telescope may be launched as early as 2008 with much luck. This will be the most powerful telescope ever built of course and allow us to see even further in the depths of space. God-Speed...
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. Hard to believe it was that long ago. At first the telescope had an optical flaw and thought to be a 2 billion dollar white elephant. The optics were fully corrected in 1994 and since then the Hubble has provided some of the most stunning and well know images of our solar system and indeed, the universe. It has allowed us to see further back in time than any human has been capable of as all images of our universe are just that, history. The hubble has brought forth great scientific discoveries and estimated the age of our universe at 13.4 bilion years old. It's been able to see almost to the beginning of this time. Amazing when you stop to think that the light from such begining events began it's travel towards earth before earth existed and we're only seeing it now. How is such a thing possible even ...
So the Hubble is now well-known almost throughout the world, but what's next. That's a little less well advertised but work has begun on the Hubble successor. The Next Generation Telescope now known as the James Webb Space Telescope may be launched as early as 2008 with much luck. This will be the most powerful telescope ever built of course and allow us to see even further in the depths of space. God-Speed...
